A thought on Parshas Vaera
"...va'era el Avraham el Yitzchak v'el Yakov...""...and I appeared to the Patriarchs..." (6:2)
HaShem explains to Moshe how He was known to each of the Avos but in a more limited manner than in which He was revealed to Moshe. The Name of HaShem which was known to the earlier Patriarchs was a name associated with limitedness, which is known in kabbalistic thought as din rafa or "faint justice." Anything Divine which is manifest with a sense of limitation or precision is associated with the attribute of Din.
In contrast, HaShem was known to Moshe with the Name associated with Rachamim. HaShem's attribute which we experience as kindness is not restricted. It is expansive.
The Recanati explains that Moshe's own mission was an expansive one. His was the task of leading a nation. While the Avos shepherded their family and clan, Moshe was the ruler of a multitude. Many were the challenges and trials which he was tested with in that role, yet the Torah was given to them through Moshe, and it was given with that same Name of Kindness. Moshe's avoda was one of kindness and compassion like a merciful shepherd.
The manner in which a person lives in the lower world is mirrored in his or her relationship with HaShem in the higher world. Moshe dealt with his flock in an expansive, loving, kind and gentle form of leadership. He was a humble man, and the seat of compassion and kindness is in the heart of the humble person. HaShem reinforced, validated if you will, the kindness in His servant Moshe by revealing His Presence through the attribute of Divine Kindness, which also knows no limits. The Recanati observes that if you apprehend a sense of how HaShem deals with a person, you have an idea of how that person deals with others.
Not long ago, I was driving to console a friend who had lost a parent. On the way, a block or so from my house, I saw an old man sitting in a wheelchair in the dark, with a large dog next to him. He was on the sidewalk and it seemed odd to me at that late hour.
When I returned home and was parking on the street outside my house, the man was now sitting in front of my house, next to his wheelchair, the dog standing guard. I sat in my car, observing, and I confess that I thought of calling the police to investigate what was probably a drunk man or a culprit of some sort. He just sat there, and I gingerly got out of the car, mindful that the large dog was a strong German shepherd. I called out, "Do you need help?"
He replied in a faint, rather gentle voice, that he had an electric wheel chair but the motor had died. He was stuck and did not have the energy to go further. I told him that I could not fit the dog in my car but that I would gladly call a taxi, and pay for it to bring him where he needed to go. I went in to call a taxi, and my daughter said that she would get him some hot tea, for the night was windy and cold. As we waited for the taxi to arrive, another homeless man with a dog came by and commiserated with the older fellow. Meanwhile, the older man said, "This is the only time in four years of having to live this way that anyone has offered to help me."
I got him into the cab, and it turned out that he lived in a facility for the elderly just a few blocks away. The second man, the homeless one, said to me that most of the cab drivers are Moslems and they won't allow dogs in their cars. I told him that I would handle it, and it turned out that the driver was an African American, I don't know what his religion was, and he was willing to take the dog once it was identified as a "service dog" needed by the old man. They drove away and the homeless man and his dog disappeared into the night.
I can't help wondering if this opportunity to show some kindness, and spend some money helping someone, was a chance to try counteracting other activities where money is used less noble ways, and in ways which fail to set the Jew in a position of perceived kindness and integrity. A kind act is a drop in the bucket yet it can sometimes make a kiddush HaShem in places where there has been a desecration of kovod Shomayim. As the Recanati tells us, the way in which one wants to travel is the way in which HaShem travels with him.
I am sending this parsha mail, and next week's one, early since I am about ready to depart for Jerusalem for a while. May our travels be with HaShem. Good Shabbos. D Fox
HaShem explains to Moshe how He was known to each of the Avos but in a more limited manner than in which He was revealed to Moshe. The Name of HaShem which was known to the earlier Patriarchs was a name associated with limitedness, which is known in kabbalistic thought as din rafa or "faint justice." Anything Divine which is manifest with a sense of limitation or precision is associated with the attribute of Din.
In contrast, HaShem was known to Moshe with the Name associated with Rachamim. HaShem's attribute which we experience as kindness is not restricted. It is expansive.
The Recanati explains that Moshe's own mission was an expansive one. His was the task of leading a nation. While the Avos shepherded their family and clan, Moshe was the ruler of a multitude. Many were the challenges and trials which he was tested with in that role, yet the Torah was given to them through Moshe, and it was given with that same Name of Kindness. Moshe's avoda was one of kindness and compassion like a merciful shepherd.
The manner in which a person lives in the lower world is mirrored in his or her relationship with HaShem in the higher world. Moshe dealt with his flock in an expansive, loving, kind and gentle form of leadership. He was a humble man, and the seat of compassion and kindness is in the heart of the humble person. HaShem reinforced, validated if you will, the kindness in His servant Moshe by revealing His Presence through the attribute of Divine Kindness, which also knows no limits. The Recanati observes that if you apprehend a sense of how HaShem deals with a person, you have an idea of how that person deals with others.
Not long ago, I was driving to console a friend who had lost a parent. On the way, a block or so from my house, I saw an old man sitting in a wheelchair in the dark, with a large dog next to him. He was on the sidewalk and it seemed odd to me at that late hour.
When I returned home and was parking on the street outside my house, the man was now sitting in front of my house, next to his wheelchair, the dog standing guard. I sat in my car, observing, and I confess that I thought of calling the police to investigate what was probably a drunk man or a culprit of some sort. He just sat there, and I gingerly got out of the car, mindful that the large dog was a strong German shepherd. I called out, "Do you need help?"
He replied in a faint, rather gentle voice, that he had an electric wheel chair but the motor had died. He was stuck and did not have the energy to go further. I told him that I could not fit the dog in my car but that I would gladly call a taxi, and pay for it to bring him where he needed to go. I went in to call a taxi, and my daughter said that she would get him some hot tea, for the night was windy and cold. As we waited for the taxi to arrive, another homeless man with a dog came by and commiserated with the older fellow. Meanwhile, the older man said, "This is the only time in four years of having to live this way that anyone has offered to help me."
I got him into the cab, and it turned out that he lived in a facility for the elderly just a few blocks away. The second man, the homeless one, said to me that most of the cab drivers are Moslems and they won't allow dogs in their cars. I told him that I would handle it, and it turned out that the driver was an African American, I don't know what his religion was, and he was willing to take the dog once it was identified as a "service dog" needed by the old man. They drove away and the homeless man and his dog disappeared into the night.
I can't help wondering if this opportunity to show some kindness, and spend some money helping someone, was a chance to try counteracting other activities where money is used less noble ways, and in ways which fail to set the Jew in a position of perceived kindness and integrity. A kind act is a drop in the bucket yet it can sometimes make a kiddush HaShem in places where there has been a desecration of kovod Shomayim. As the Recanati tells us, the way in which one wants to travel is the way in which HaShem travels with him.
I am sending this parsha mail, and next week's one, early since I am about ready to depart for Jerusalem for a while. May our travels be with HaShem. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 11:41 AM
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